Letter to the Editor:
As a Burbank resident, I wish to voice my objection to the idea of pot shops being allowed in Burbank.
They do nothing to make it a better place to live.
Instead, they attract undesirables. If there’s a city council vote on the matter, I will support the members who are against it.
Mary Young
Hello, I am one of these undesirables. I live here. I use marijuana so I can reduce my dependency on meds with horrible side effects. I travel out of Burbank and let other areas get the tax benefit so I can continue.
This seems like an outdated and fear-based assessment rather than one based on anything remotely like a reasoned review of the facts. I can certainly get behind concerns over number and locations of shops, taxation, resources for drug education for both adults and kids, etc. But extreme positions on either side do not advance progress. Cost-benefit review should inform the decision-making by City Council, and that includes public opinion. But communities benefit most when their members are educated.
I’m with Mary.
No shops in Burbank.
If you support this and you think this is a good idea and you’re not Mary Young you’d feel comfortable leaving your name, right?
I love a letter like this from someone who probably has a cupboard full of alcohol and a medicine cabinet full of pills, both of which cause more harm to people than marijuana ever did. I’ve been a resident of Burbank for 25 years, a contributing member of society, and I too spend my marijuana dollars outside of the city. It’s really time to stop the 1950s cannabis fear-mongering.
I don’t have much of a horse in this race since I don’t smoke, but I used to live in a dry county back east — that level of pearl-clutching towards alcohol brings the same result as blocking these dispensaries out here.
They’re gonna get it down the street anyway so what’s the harm in letting our Burbank burnouts put a little more money into our local coffers? Lord knows we have more than enough liquor stores without Burbank turning into a hellhole. It’ll be the same with dispensaries.
I don’t want weed shops here. The smell of weed hangs like a pall of smoke over areas surrounding these shops and it gives me the worst migraines imaginable. Sometimes these migraines last for days and are so debilitating that I cannot work. One reason I moved to Burbank, a city I adore, was to get away from these shops.
That’s funny, I’ve never smelled the pall of smoke over areas surrounding the shops. We do appreciate your one reason though.
I don’t want pizza shops here. The smell of pizza hangs like a pall of smoke over areas surrounding these shops and it gives me the worst migraines imaginable. Sometimes these migraines last for days and are so debilitating that I cannot work. One reason I moved to Burbank, a city I adore, was to get away from these shops.
There I fixed it for you.
We don’t want those shops in my beautiful city of Burbank. I love my city, weed shops stay away.
Undesirables? Reads like Mary wants to make Burbank great again. Sad.
It is unfortunate that this outdated stigma of marijuana users as “undesirable” by people like Ms. Young and others continues to impact people who use cannabis to alleviate pain or improve the quality of “their” life not found in prescription drugs.
My late father in law, a retired Burbank firefighter, battled cancer and it was the marijuana edibles that I provided him that brought him some relief from his pain without the horrible side effects from his doctor prescribed drugs. Although my father in law, a brave and strong man who risked his life to save others, lost his battle against cancer he was able to have some quality of life in his final days due to marijuana. My mother in law, also not an undesirable, appreciated the relief it brought him.
Maybe the tax dollars generated from a few cannabis dispensaries in Burbank could help alleviate the growing homelessness problem I’ve witnessed since moving to Burbank. A homeless encampment in McCambridge Park and also across from Burbank HS, littered with discarded bottles and cans of alcohol and cigarette butts are not safe, desirable nor good for Burbank. Perhaps marijuana dispensaries could replace some of the liquor stores in Burbank selling alcohol and cigarettes as I’ve yet to seen how they improve the quality of life in Burbank.
I’d encourage Ms. Young and others to do some research and perhaps then she and them could come to an educated decision about marijuana and not ignorantly classify their fellow citizens of Burbank as “undesirables”.
I too am one of those undesirables in 2007 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer which went into my lungs so I can’t smoke. However the edibles help me make it through after 9 abdomen surgeries I am stillI here
If you want to talk about things that don’t improve the quality of a city, how bout we look at the large amount of gun shops in Burbank. Makes me feel less safe than a cannabis dispensary knowing there’s lethal weapons for sale down the street from me.
Hear Hear Dan. I believe there are at least three gun shops on Magnolia between Buena Vista and Victory. What’s up with that?
We have multiple shops in Burbank for alcohol, vape, tobacco, and guns. Please tell me how these stores aren’t attracting your “undesirables”.
I’d rather have weed shops in Burbank than gun shops.
I fail to see how weed shops are any different than bars. What, are we going to run all the bars out of Burbank next?
I don’t smoke so whether weed shops are allowed or not doesn’t really affect me. I *would* like to see code relaxed so more restaurants could open along Magnolia though. We could have a really nice Larchmont Village type vibe but all I hear from people who want to open along that corridor is how tough it is to get parking exemptions for anything bigger than a counter service restaurant.
Nice to see Blvd Tacos open though!
I don’t smoke pot, but I’m supportive of anyone who wants to for medicinal reasons or just for recreation. I’d love to have some shops in the city for the tax revenue.
Also the use of “undesirables” is making me think she’s talking about poor people and/or POC. Either way, not a good look Mary.
I feel that Burbank would be best served by combination gun shop/saloon establishments, where the fine folks of this city can relax and paruse a cornucopia of paranoid fantasy paraphernalia unencumbered by sobriety.
Fascist propaganda meant to take away your freedoms and restrict your business opportunities. All coming from the party of “freedom” and “business.”
I think it’s time we examined this problem in full without the overwrought and outdated “Reefer Madness” hysteria.
I live in Burbank and due to a car accident and subsequent degenerative back injury, I’m in constant and sometimes unbearable pain. I discovered, quite by accident, that marijuana helps with the pain and allows me to have some sort of normality in my life. I use a miniscule amount of this product.
For the last few years, I’ve had to drive to other cities to legal medical dispensaries to purchase the products that aid me in living as pain-free a life as I can. I abide by all laws. I have all the necessary paperwork, which in most cases, I’ve paid for. And, I’m willing to pay exorbitant taxes on these products to aid the cities in which I purchase them.
To say that people like me are “undesirables” is to blatantly insult me and the years I’ve worked in this country and paid into the system. Yes, there are those who are only interested in using this product recreationally to get high, but let’s discuss the ballooning use of alcohol: liquor stores are everywhere, as are ads promoting its use and DUI’s.
Burbank should allow dispensaries within its borders. Burbank should take advantage of the increase in tax revenue. Why let those dollars go to other cities, while allowing delivery of these products in Burbank? It makes no sense.
With all the businesses closing due to the pandemic, I suggest our venerable city council rethink this antiquated stance on allowing medical/recreational dispensaries within our wonderful city. If CBD products can be sold in Von’s, I think Burbank residents can withstand a dispensary in our city.
Mary, don’t start. I’m disabled with neurological disorders. I’m in pain constantly. I am sick constantly. I also have severe PTSD and depression. Pills do not work for me. Cannabis is the only safe medicine that helps me manage my symptoms and have some level of functionality. Edibles give me my life back. Check for your empathy. We have gun shops in Burbank. If you’re cool with that but not cannabis, you’re uninformed and judgmental.
Fight in brave little drug warrior!
I’m a liberal, I’m not a crusty old lady, or the morality police. I don’t use drugs, nor do I use tobacco, or have a cabinet full of liquor, nor am I on any pharmaceuticals. I am a tax payer, a property owner so I contribute to this city. I have no issue with adults using weed do what you gotta do, but I don’t want dispensaries in my city. Legally they can be as close as 600 feet to a school, so no thanks. There are plenty of pot shops in NoHo so folks can go there if they need it, we don’t need them here IMO.
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